Secrets of the Sea
by Cer-Kamber
Summary: Ember is just a normal girl from Alabasta, or so she thought. After facing difficulties from Boroque Works, she is invited to join the Straw Hat Pirates. Little did she know that the answers to all her question lie in wait along the sea. Zolo X OC


**I do not own the characters of One Piece or there world itself. ** I just love the Japanese anime : D

**Chapter 1: A pirate's life for me**

_Never in my life would I have planned to become a pirate. It's just something that happened. Not that I regret it at all though. Life has never been so much fun._

_I'm Ember Kozake, just your average girl from Alabasta with an obsession over soccer. That was to be my life, or so I thought. But life never plays out exactly as planned. Let me tell you my extraordinary story. I'll start with the first and best thing I remember._

"Em! Ember!" I could hear someone shouting my name from a distance. I smiled, knowing who it was. A silhouetted shape was running towards my house tugging something behind him. I couldn't make out what it was though.

"Ember! Look what I found!" The sandy-headed boy was beginning to fade into view as well as the thing he was dragging behind him. It looked like an over-grown lizard with wings. As they came closer i realized that I was right. "Ember! I found a dragon!" The sandy-headed boy, my best friend Kohza, grinned widely. "Happy birthday, Em!"

I tilted my head slightly. "It's for me?" There was confusion in my voice.

Kohza nodded and handed me the rope tied to the dragon. "Why don't you name him?"

I sighed and looked at the dragon. He was about the size of a large dog, maybe a retriever, and bright red with small horns and green eyes that seemed to blaze in the light. "I think his name should be Blaze." I smiled at Kohza and hugged him hard. "Thank you."

When I let go Kohza shrugged but I could see his faced had slightly pinked a bit. I laughed and invited him in for cake. My parents had thrown a small party on account of me turning nine years old. They were getting ready to go on another trip. Who knew that would be the last time I saw them.

_A few days after my parents left I received word that they were attacked by marines, who mistakenly thought they were pirates, and died out at sea. Needless to say, I was devastated. But my life turned upside down a few years later when I left for a soccer camp that would keep me away for about three years._

It was getting late and my new soccer coaches were trying to board us on the ship. Kohza had carried my things here for me and Blaze was at his side. I was pretty bummed out about leaving my dragon and my best friends behind. Blaze nudged my hand so that I would pet his head.

"Hey Kohza, could you do me a favor?" Behind my back was my old diary. I wanted him to take care of it for me.

"Sure. What do you need?" He smiled. I could see it in his eyes. He hated to see me go.

"Could you take care of this for me?" I handed him the diary, which had a small page marker in a certain page, then boarded the ship after hugging both of them. I watched as Kohza opened the diary and read that page.

March 3

I'm so happy today. My birthday was the best! Kohza had given me a real dragon! Later on I found out that it could talk. Mom said he was special and I thought she was talking about my dragon Blaze. She said I would see in due time, like I know what that means... She and Dad are leaving tomorrow for another business trip. I hate when they go away for such long times. Well anyway I can't wait to play with Blaze, Kohza and Vivi tomorrow! It's going to be so much fun! I just Hope Kohza doesn't find out that I like him yet.

Yours Truly, Ember

_Three years later I came back. I was fully an adult now, well as adult as nineteen will let you be. My hometown, Yuba was buried in sand. I tried looking everywhere for Kohza but he was nowhere to be found. Alabasta had completely changed since I left._

I ran to my house. It was complete submerged in the sand. I yelled out Kohza and Blaze's names but only got my echo in return. There were some scratching noises coming from my room. I managed to scoop away enough sand to climb inside.

The house was unbelievably filled with sand. Most of the rooms and furniture were either blocked, covered, or submerged in the cold, pale material. I could hear whining now. Scrambling up the stairs i spotted my little red dragon cuddled up under a table, writhing in fear.

"Blaze. Blaze it's me. I'm back" I bent down to hugged the scared creature.

"It was awful! I've never seen so many sandstorms!" he cried.

"Sandstorms? Yuba isn't even on a path for sandstorms!" I sighed and sat on the sandy ground. "It's just not right. Where's Kohza and Old man Toto?"

Blaze shrugged and stood up. "We need to get out of here, now!" Blaze tugged on my shirt and I followed him out of the house just in time to see yet another sandstorm off in the distance.

"This is why you wanted to leave right?" I followed him down the main street. "Head towards Kohza's. Maybe Old man Toto is there!"

"Okay!" Blaze morphs into a dragon a little bigger and much sleeker than his normal form. He kind of reminded me of a horse. Either way his new form was made for running. "Get on quickly!" I did as I was told and we got to Kohza's place in half the time.

I jumped off Blaze's back and slammed my fist on the door. "Mr. Toto!" I yelled. Old man Toto opened the door finally.

"Ember!" he gaped in surprise. "You're back! Oh you must help us. Kohza has gone to Katorea with the rebel army. I fear he may get hurt."

"Kohza's in Katorea? What about Vivi? Where's Princess Vivi?" I asked quickly.

Old man Toto shrugged. "She left a little while after you. We haven't heard from her in a while."

I growled and nodded to him for his help. "Thanks Mr. Toto. Come on Blaze!" I ran outside and jumped on Blaze's back. "Can you morph into your flying form?"

Blaze shook his head. "The sandstorms will make it too hard for me to fly. We're better off on foot." With that he sped off towards the Sandora River.

It took us almost an hour to get there. Blaze was already tired so we stopped there for a while. It was ten minutes later that I saw someone walking towards us from afar. It looked to be a young woman, maybe around my age, with long blonde hair. As she moved closer I saw that her clothing was a little out of place here in the desert.

"Blaze, look at that. I don't think she's from around here" I said finally.

"Well that's a no brainer. Why don't we see if she's lost?" Blaze answered.

I sighed and stood up. She didn't really look lost to me but I figured my little dragon could be wise sometimes so I ran over to help her.

"Hey Miss! Are you okay?" I called out. She looked up and I swear I could see her smile.

"Could you help me? I'm trying to get to a place called Alubarna." she asked.

I finally was a few feet away now. "Alubarna? Uh sure I guess. There's somewhere I need to get to first."

"I don't mind. As long as I get there, I'll be fine."

"Okay cool. I'm Ember by the way. And I hope you don't mind but the place I need to go is a little farther than where you're going."

"I'm Yumi. And like I said, I don't mind"

I smiled and turned around. "Blaze!" I watched the little red dragon come running towards us. "Blaze, this is Yumi."

"Nice to meet you." Blaze greeted.

Yumi turned to me. "He can talk?"

I nodded. "He can shift shape too." Blaze shifted his shape to become a large dragon with a huge wing span, great for flying.

"We'll need to get to Katorea fast if we want to make it to Alubarna before nightfall. Hop on."

Both Yumi and I nodded and did as we were told. Blaze took off across the river. Along the Flight Yumi told me a little about herself and why she was going to Alubarna in the first place. In return, I told her about my business in Katorea.

We landed in Katorea after forty minutes of nonstop flying. It would have taken us three hours to walk this far so I was glad to have Blaze. Yumi and I jumped off his back and he shifted to his normal form, the dog sized dragon with small wings. We approached a large tent which had guards on either side of the entrance. I walked up to one of them.

"Yes?" The guard asked. He was a little rude if you ask me.

"I need to speak with Kohza. Tell him Ember Kozake is here." I stated. The guard frowned at me.

"Kohza is not allowing anyone in today. Please come back at another time."

I stepped forward. "He _will_ see me. Just tell him I'm here!"

The guard shook his head. "I can't do that. Come back later." I growled and shoved him aside. I was going to just walk in but the guard grabbed my shirt and yanked me back. "You got to be joking if you think I'm just going to let you walk in there." With that Blaze ran up and bit his leg. The guard let me go and I ran inside.

I found where Kohza's office was easily. There was a DO NOT DISTURB sign on the tent flap but I pushed it open anyway. I didn't like what I saw though. There was Kohza, at his desk with no shirt on, making out with a girl who was naked with her legs wrapped tightly around him. His pants buckle was undone and I could see that they were open just enough. I yelped in shock and I saw Kohza's eyes widen in embarrassment as he saw me. I turned and Ran right back out the way I came, my face hot and red.

"Ember!" He called as he ran after me, zipping up his pants along the way. He caught my wrist as I reached the main entrance. "Em, wait!"

I turned and glared at him, tears welling up in my eyes. "Why should I? I _never_ should have come to find you!" I yanked my hand away from him and continued out the door.

Kohza ran up behind me and pulled me into a tight hug. "I never meant to hurt you, Em. Please believe me."

I broke free of his grip. "You are just like every other guy in the world. I thought you were different!" I ran over to Yumi and Blaze.

"Ember, please don't go!" He tried running over but Blaze blocked his path, snarling with rage. "Em, please! She's nothing to me!"

"Just leave me alone! I don't care anymore!" I cried. Tears were falling like a river now. "Come on Blaze!"

Blaze growled at Kohza one more time then followed. As we left I could hear Kohza and the guard talking.

"I told her not to come in." The guard insisted.

"Why didn't you offer to come get me? She wouldn't hate me right now if you did your job right!" Kohza growled.

"But you said that you didn't want to be disturbed unless-"

"Unless it was important. Ember's arrival _is_ important. Now she won't ever talk to me again!"

I couldn't hear anymore after that. We were too far away now. Blaze transformed into the flying type. We hopped on his back and he took off towards Alubarna. At least there weren't any sandstorms going around. We landed outside the gates thirty minutes later. Blaze shifted to his normal form, trotting by my side. Yumi smiled at me, gently touching my shoulder. She didn't need to say anything. I knew she was trying to comfort me. As we neared the gates I noticed a large group of people standing around. I couldn't recognize any of them until a blue haired girl came into view. I smiled seeing Princess Vivi, one of my childhood friends.

"Vivi!" I yelled. Then I ran over, shouting her name. She turned and beamed a smile back, calling my name as she ran over to hug me.

"Ember!" She smiled and hugged me hard. "I haven't seen you in years! How are you? Have you talked to Kohza yet?" Her stream of questions caught me off guard, especially the one about Kohza.

"Um yeah. I'm okay and I did see Kohza..." My voice had dropped to a mere whisper now. "It didn't go well either..."

"Aw well that sucks. I hope the next time you see each other goes better."

Then Yumi caught up finally. She smiled at Vivi. "Hey Viv. Finally caught up to you guys. Where's Zolo?"

"Hey Yumi! I think he's over with Luffy and Sanji." Vivi smiled. _Who are these people they're talking about and how do they know each other? _My thoughts were going wild with questions. "So how was soccer camp?"

I smiled, recalling the funniest events from when I was with my soccer buddies for so long. "It was great. I had a lot of fun!"

"Well that's good. Alabasta's kind of had some troubles lately."

I looked at her in surprise. The only troubles I had encountered were the sandstorms in Yuba. "What's happening?"

Vivi looked down and I swear she looked like she was going to cry. "Kohza started the rebel army. They plan to attack Alubarna today. He keeps saying that my father is destroying this country." The she looked up with a defiant look in her eyes. "But I know who is really behind it. Crocodile is playing them against each other. We need to stop this unnecessary bloodshed!"

Her gaze burned into my mind. If only looks could kill. I was just glad the dagger glare wasn't targeted at me. "I will see what I can do." It was all I could say.

Vivi and I staked out the south gate for an hour before we had even a slight sign of movement off in the distance. Huge dust clouds were gathering and it sounded like a stampede. I could sense Vivi's frustration as I turned to see her expression. Her fist hardened, whitening the knuckles. Looking back at the dust cloud I noticed a man on horseback was appearing. I immediately recognized Kohza. I don't know why but the first thing I did was start running towards him, screaming his name; telling him to stop. Vivi did the same thing but neither of our voices was heard over the roaring of hooved feet.

I growled in frustration before taking off towards the city gates once more. Vivi had mentioned some other people that she knew so maybe they could help. I glanced back and saw Vivi following my lead. "Where are those people you were talking about?"

"At the other gates. Maybe Zolo and Sanji can help. Get to the west gate quickly!" She took off through the city with absolute speed. I quickly followed her, gaining on her after a few minutes.

It took about ten minutes to reach the west gate. Immediately I saw two men and Yumi. One young man, about my age, had green hair and s solemn look to himself. The other had shaggy blonde hair with curly eyebrows. Yumi turned when she heard our simultaneous footsteps and smiled. The other two followed her lead.

"Hey Em! What are you two doing here?" Then she saw the look of horror on Vivi's face. "What happened?"

"The rebel army just fell into view at the south gate. They won't listen to either of us!" Vivi shouted.

Yumi gasped and ran with Vivi to the palace. I stayed behind, alone with the two guys. I smiled sweetly at the and only the blond returned it. He seemed pretty nice at least. The other one stayed silent, staring off into the distance as if he were waiting for something. I followed his gaze and noticed some more dust clouds. I figured it to be the rebel army again. Behind me I heard the clink of metal. I turned curiously to see what it was and the green-haired man unsheathed a katana. _Are they going to fight the rebels?_ I turned towards the dust cloud again and I couldn't recognize any the figure approaching to be with the rebels. It was someone totally different.

I turned and looked at the blond. "Who's coming? It's not any rebel I know."

He narrowed his eyes off into the distance, staring at that same dust cloud. "That's because it's not a rebel." He paused for a second. "How well can you fight?"

"Pretty well, I guess. I'm more of a ranged fighter though."

"Good. If you can hit moving targets, start shooting." He turned away from me and tensed his muscles. He wasn't too bad looking but the one with the green hair was way cuter even if he was more silent than a dead bird.

I nodded and concentrated, calling upon the flames within my body. My hand heated to a slight red glow. I smiled and aimed for the dust cloud which shrouded the looming figure, and shot fireballs at it. A few seconds later the figure was down. I smiled and even caught the glimpse of the green-haired man's smirk.

"Nice shot. What's your name?" The blond asked.

"It's Ember. Ember Kozake." I smiled, clearly impressed with my skills.

"Alright, Ember. I'm Sanji and that's Zolo." He pointed to the other boy. Zolo slightly waved in acknowledgment.

"Nice to meet you both. Is that guy really dead?" I asked.

Both men shrugged. Who knows? Let's get to the palace quickly." Sanji suggested. I nodded and all three of us began running.

Twenty minutes later we arrived at the clock tower which wasn't too far from the palace. Vivi was already there and more than likely she needed help with whatever was going on. I ran up the few flights of stairs in front of her father palace. Neither Pell nor Chaka were anywhere in sight, and that itself was unusual. Something was wrong. I could sense that Zolo and Sanji were hot on my trail as I raced up the marble staircase. I finally reached the palace door, out of breath and shaking, when I heard voices. There were about four different people inside including Vivi. I growled and pressed my hands to the stone door, heating it. I couldn't melt the stone of course but maybe I could melt whatever was keeping it locked.

It didn't take long. Sanji and Zolo were at my side now, kicking in the door. _A little hotter_, I kept urging on the heat until the door broke open. We stood there, winded and at loss for breathe but still tense. Vivi and her father were against a wall with the king pinned to it. I gasped and noticed the two other people. Sanji and Zolo growled, tensing their muscles even more for battle.

The man turned and smiled wickedly. "Now what do we have here? The cook, the swordsman, and a civilian. How lovely." His voice was deep and creepy. The girl with long black hair turned around now. "Robin, take care of these pests." He command, motioning towards us. I growled, igniting my hands.

"Just try it bitch." With that I began a string of rapid fireballs, each one she dodged easily. A clink of metal sounded behind me and I knew the other two joined the fight. The woman -Robin, or whatever her name is- crossed her arms and the surrounding field sprung more arms that entrapped us. She grinned and the arms squeezed harder, cutting off my air supply. "Vivi!" I gasped out frantically.

"Ember!" She tried to run to me but was caught by the man. "Let me go! Let me go!" The guy had his large hand around her throat, pressing her against the wall.

"You?" A new voice sprung from the entrance. Without turning my head I knew it was Kohza. "What the hell is going on here Crocodile?" His gaze fell on me then on Vivi. "It was you, wasn't it? Vivi and Ember were right!" He took off after Vivi's captor, kicking his leg out hard. The man -Crocodile- let go of Vivi and dodged. Okay maybe dodged wouldn't be the right word for it. Kohza's kick went right through his arm.

I tried to keep watching the fight but I was beginning to black out from lack of air. Then a thought came to me. I heated my body until I could smell the burning flesh of the magic arms that held me. The woman screamed and the arms let go. Grinning, I put my hands together and slid them apart, making a whip of fire. I wasn't usually an up-close-and-personal fighter but I couldn't sit back and watch my home get destroyed. The whip blazed in my hand, burning hotter with my anger. I swung my arm and the tip hit the arms holding onto Zolo and Sanji. Then I turned my attention to Crocodile. Sand against fire? Damn right I would win. I flicked my wrist and the whip traveled at high speed towards him. The croc dodged and I ran at him, fists already flaming. Again he dodged and I slammed into the wall right behind him.

"Foolish little girl. You and your little flame tricks can't beat me." He nodded to Robin. "Let's go. We still have a job to do." The both walked out the entrance and I crawled over to Vivi.

"Hey Viv, you feeling okay?" My body temperature was back to normal so I gently lifted her. Kohza was at my side, looking at her protectively. I sighed and left her to go check on the other two. "Sanji, Zolo, how are you both feeling?" I could feel my skin heating up slightly but not enough to burn anyone.

"We're just fine. What about you? All that heat must really be taking a toll on your body." Sanji eyed me with concern. Zolo didn't even seem interested.

I shook my head. "My body can take the heat. Where's Yumi?" Sanji shrugged and started to look around. "I thought she was with Vivi."

"She went after the bomb in the clock tower." I heard Vivi say. I turned to look at her. "Hurry up and get her out of there." Vivi was attempting to stand up, with Kohza's help at least. I nodded and ran outside.

"Ember, wait! We're coming too!" I heard Sanji call. He and Zolo were chasing after me. I was racing down the stairs and towards the main square just below the clock tower when they finally caught up to me.

The clock tower loomed over the city, which was now submerged in pointless fighting. At first I could not see my friend at the entrance, of the tower, slamming her fists on the door to get in. I saw Zolo sprint ahead of me, clearly furious, and kick the door in. His strength amazed me, almost making my face hot with awe. I quickly shook away the feeling and hurried up the stairwell with Sanji close at my heels.

Upon reaching the top, I noticed as small fight had already erupted between my colleagues and enemies. Zolo was taking hits left and right from one of Crocodile's men who had his abilities enhanced with a devil's fruit. Yumi had enough on her plate from the two others double teaming her.

"Sanji, help Zolo! I'll help Yumi." I commanded, springing into battle as well with fist a flaming. I didn't turn back to see in the blond listened; the sounds of boots against flesh already told me he did.

My boot connected with one man's face as soon as I became involved. He went flying across the room from the force of it. Yumi looked at me gratefully before continuing on with her own fight. The man struggled to get up, muttering swears under his breath the entire time. I smiled and came at him again, this time with my own Devil's fruit power working.

Within ten minutes all the guys were down. My attention went directly to searching the room for the bomb. Everything looked to be in order but I figured that the bomb had to be in the most obvious spot. "Sanji, Zolo, we need to find that bomb now!" I yelled, dashing over to the clocks gears. They were the most obvious place I could think of. Everyone was searching the tiny room. The bomb had to be there somewhere. That is, unless it was just a way to spit the team up… "He was lying!"

I saw Zolo's, Sanji's, and Yumi's eyes all trained on me. I sighed and walked over to them.

"There was never a bomb. It was all just a scam to separate us from the others. We need to get back down there quickly."

I was about ready to go back downstairs when I heard a gunshot. I rushed over to the window, just in time to see Kohza fall to the dirt. "KOHZA!" I screamed. My head was spinning, making me dizzy and nauseous. The world around me was darkening so I didn't know who grabbed me as I fell backwards. Then everything was black.

It was a while before I awoke again. Once my eyes adjusted to the light I noticed that I was no longer in the clock tower. "Where am I?" I muttered. Zolo looked down to see me awake. He was sitting next to me. "Where are Yumi and Sanji?"

The green haired man smirked. "You've been out for a while; At least an hour. The other went to find Crocodile, Yumi and Sanji with them."

I nodded and turned my head to get a better view of where I was since Zolo never answered that question. I was still in the city at least; the main square it seemed. Then it hit me and I turned my attention towards Zolo, sitting up too quickly for my body to handle. "Where's Kohza? Is he okay?" I winced out.

Zolo shrugged. "Well he's not dead, if that's what you want to know. But I have no clue as to where the Rebel Army took him." He stayed quiet after that. I secretly wondered if he chose to stay with me or because he was forced to. It was most likely the latter since he barely even knew me.

On to better subjects, I hated missing out on the action. I really wanted to fight Crocodile after what he did to my friends. Blaze was at my other side, sleeping as usual. It would have been nice to be sitting here with Zolo except that we both knew our friends were out there fighting for their lives and this country. "You can't expect me to sit here while they have fun. We should find them now."

Zolo shook his head. "You're still hurt and the fight is probably over by now. They'll be coming back here soon enough." He struggled to say those words, and I knew why. He and I were more alike than I realized. Both of us lived for the fight and neither of us really fit in with others.

Suddenly and odd question popped into my head and I decided to voice it. "Are you with Yumi?"

He looked over at me shocked, his face a little pink from blush. I figured I just I caught him off guard. "No. Not at all." He said after regaining his control.

I settled back down, hoping that was true. This guy, the more I got to know him, the more I began to like him. However there was one problem with that. He apparently liked my new best friend.

It was a little more than an hour later when the others finally came back. By the wide grins on their faces, I figured that we won. Yumi and Vivi were running towards us, yelling something.

"Luffy did it! He beat Crocodile!" Yumi grinned once she was close to me. The others were farther back still, apparently walking with our hero.

"He's Luffy. Of course he's going to beat that idiot." Zolo spoke softly. He didn't meet either of our gazes; instead he chose to pay close attention to the upkeep of his three katana.

I sighed and looked back to Yumi and Vivi. "So where's Kohza now?"

"He went back to Katorea with the other rebels." Vivi answered.

"Is he going to be okay though?"

Vivi nodded, still smiling. "Come on. Let's go inside." She helped me up and led the rest of us back to the palace. Her father was sitting at his high chair, slowly nodding off from his medication for his wounds. I smiled at him, not really expecting to get much of a reaction. Vivi directed us to the bath house, which was divided by a large 6-foot wall. The men were told to go in on the left and us women on the right. I let out a sigh of relief as I submersed myself in the hot water. It soothed my aching muscles. Yumi introduced me to the other woman in her crew. The red headed Nami was the ship's navigator and her weapon was a pole that could do some elemental tricks. I didn't pay much attention to what the weapon could do.

"So what are you going to do now?" Yumi asked me.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to stay here or did you want to come with us? I'm sure Luffy would love to have you as a recruit."

I paused for a moment. I had never even thought about becoming a pirate until she brought it up. I mean I had friends here but I was sure I could leave them for a while like I did before. "You're sure about this? I haven't been much help."

Yumi grinned. "Zolo told me your ability to make and control fire is awesome. And I saw how you fight. Just come with us!"

Finally I smiled. "Alright, I'm officially Ember Kozake the Straw Hat Pirate."

_So that was how I became a pirate. There wasn't much more that happened that night. Yumi told Luffy that I wanted to be in his crew and he agreed. The next morning I said goodbye to Vivi and followed the other with a few things and my dragon at my side. I never did get to say goodbye to Kohza but I don't think it mattered to him much. By noon, we set course for the next island in the Grand Line and my new adventure began._


End file.
